Vehicle-body.



N0. 699,488. Patented May 6, |902.

J. E. &. C. B. BROWN.

VEHICLE BODY.

(Appucasion alga Apr. 1o, 1901.)

A TTOHNE YS raras i iin errar rricn.

JAMES E. BROVN AND CHAUNCEY B. BROVN, OF BRADFORD, PENNSYLVANIA.

VEHICLE-BODY.

SPECFICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 699,488, dated May 6, 1902' Application led April l0, 1.901.. Serial No. 55,17Q. (No'model.)

To LZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES E. BROWN and CHAUNCEY B. BROWN, citizens of the United States,and residents of Bradford,in the county of McKean and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Vehicle-Body, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention has for its object to provide an improved construction for a vehicle-body which greatly strengthens the body Where the parts are secured together and dispenses with the use of screws and short plugs usually employed for the attachment of parts of the body and that frequently become loose or produce defacement of the finished exterior of the body.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and defined in the appended claim.

Reference is to be had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a plan view of avehicle-body having its parts joined together by the iniproved means. Fig.` 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of details taken, substantially, on the line 2 2 in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional plan view of a corner portion of the body, showing details of the improvement. Fig. et is a transverse sectional View substantially on the line 4 4 in Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a sectional plan View taken, substantially, on the line 5 5 in Fig. 2.

In the drawings, which show the details of the improvement, 6 indicates the bottom frame of a body having a rectangular form and suitably elongated, this shape being the Within similar channels a, formed oppositely in pairs in the inner surface of a side 7 and an adjacent outer edge of the frame 6, said channels being undercut in their side Walls, which adapts two channels when located directly opposite each other to receive the grooved edges of one of the keys 8.

It will be seen that if a proper number of the keys 8, formed as described,jare driven within opposite and mating channels a, formed in the outer edges of the frame 6 and in the sides 7 at and near their lower edges, the sides at their lower edges Will be very rmly affixed upon the outer edges ofthe body-frame 6 without the use of screwsvand iilling-piugs, that are liable to deface the ex- Jterior surface of the finished sides 7.

It is to be understood that the keys 8 may be secured in place by meansof glue or other cement orbe simply held in place by their vfrictional contact with the surfaces of the channels they occupy.

The ends 9 of the body are also held up'on the outer edges of the ends of theframe G, intermediately of the extremities of said ends, by means of keys 8, which are grooved on their edges and bedded in opposite undercut chan-` nels a, as already described with regard to the sides 7.

To secure the corners of the sides and end walls in a neat and very substantial manner upon the frame 6, we have provided a novel device for each corner, comprising the following details: A post 10 is provided for each corner of the body and may be substantially rectangularin cross-section, thus being adapt ed to iit against the inner surfaces of a side 7 and end wall 9 at and near a respective corner of the body. Upon a corner ofthe post l0, nearest the adjacent ends of the Walls 7 and 9, an integral corner-block lOis formed thereon, which is triangular in cross-section.

The web b, that joins the corner of each post 10 to an adjacent side of a corner-block l0,

is of sufficient thickness to insure strength,

therefor, and the web occupies an opening formed to receive it by cutting away the adjacent ends of the side and end walls of the body, each at an angle of forty-five degrees, so that one side of the triangular cornerblock upon Which the web is formed at its IOO center will be adapted to have closeengagement with the beveled ends c of the side and end Walls 7 9, as clearly shown in Figs. l and 3. Each corner-post 10 is secured to the end Wall and side wall ofthe vehicle-body by two keys 10b, that are firmly secured in vertical slots b', formed in the post and body walls, as shown in Figs. 1 and.

The location of the triangular corner-blocks 10a at respective corners of the rectangular vehicle-body, as described, provides rightangular corners therefor, the sides of each of said corner-blocks that are exterior being in the same plane with a respective side or end wall of the body and, in effect, becoming parts thereof, as represented in Figs. 1 and 3.

At a proper point on the sides 7 a novel seat-frame is secured to extend transversely of the body, and, as represented in Fig. 2, which shows the construction of the seatframe where it is attached to one side wall of the body, said features of the improvement comprise the following details: The crossbars 11 (see Fig. 1) extend transversely of the ,Vehicle-body and are held spaced apart in parallel planes by the attachment thereto of a seat-board 12. Upon a respective end of each cross-bar 11 a leg 13 is secured, either by means of a slot-and-tenon connection or in any other manner that may be preferred.

The length of the cross-bars 1l is such as adapts the legs 13 to depend at the inner sides of the body side Walls 7, and in the latter a vertical groove d, having undercut sides, is formed opposite each leg, whereon a mating dovetailed tongue d is formed that is slid endwise into the groove, which engagement of parts affords a secure and very reliable connection of the legs with the sides 7.

A rectangular notch d2 is formed in the exterior edge of the frame 6 opposite each leg 13, and a tenon e, which is formed on the lower end portion of a respective leg, engages Within an appropriate notch cl2 and is held therein by any preferred means.

The bottom frame 6 of the vehicle-body is rabbeted on the upper inner edge for the reception of a oor or bottom 6, as indicated in Fig. 2, and, as shown in said figure, an

escasaV `out`wardlyflaring side Wall 14 is affixedupon We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters- Patent- As an article of manufacture, a vehiclebody comprising a bottom, corner-posts, keys and side and end panels, all of said panels being mitered externally at the ends thereof,. and provided with inner flat faces interrupt-- ed byA keyways, said keyways extending entirely across said panels for the purpose of affording a firm grip throughout the entire width of said panels, the general location ofiy the said keyways being obliquely opposite` said mitered ends of said panels and parallel with the inner faces of said panels, the mitered surfaces and said keyways being parallel with each other, the said corner-posts'l being provided with substantially Vshaped= slots and with keyways, one Wall of each slot being interrupted by a keyway extending lengthwise of said post a distance representing the entire width of one of said panels, thel said keys engaging with all of said keyways, the relative engagement of said mitered edges and said keyways being such that each mutually locks the other throughout the entire length thereof, whereby each braces the other throughout the entire width of said panels.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES E. BROWN. CHAUNCEY B. BROWN.

Witnesses:

ROYAL W. EDGETT, M. L. WILLIS. 

